This is intended to be a homage to very many musicians I've loved since I started listening to music. My intention is to tell what I know about them, hoping that those people who like them too, will help me fill numerous gaps, which I may have in their careers and discographies. Sorry, but there are no MP3 audio files here at all, just info (and love for the musicians).

HiStats

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Fabulous singer, I think his name is recognized by everyone even if they're not rock lovers.

He was born John Robert Cocker in Sheffield on May 20th, 1944.

VANCE ARNOLD & THE AVENGERS

In the summer of 1963, Joe Cocker was heading his own band in his hometown Sheffield under the monicker Vance Arnold & The Avengers. Don´t know if there were previous lineups, but these were the musicians in the band in 1964:

This was to be the line up which heralded a whole new, somewhat jazzier flavored Joe Cocker featuring songs from Lou Rawls as well as the grittier R&B he was well known for - the band opened the shows with ´Satin Doll´! They worked in and around Sheffield for several months becoming more and more popular until John Pearson left the band to move to London.

To replace John Pearson in Joe Cocker & The Grease Band, Joe called his former drummer from Vance Arnold & The Avengers, Dave Memmott:

Still based in Sheffield, they played their first gig in London at the Speakeasy.

The band recorded some demos in 1967 (´Marjorine´, for example), that were heard by producer Denny Cordell who secured Joe a record deal. A single was recorded, ´Marjorine / The new age of the lily´, released in April 1968, but it was recorded by Cocker and Stainton with famed sessionmen such as Albert Lee (guitar), Jimmy Page (guitar) and Clem Cattini (drums). The other band members weren´t used in the recording.

Next step asked by management was a move to London, and a new lineup was formed, with Tommy Eyre.

This was the Joe Cocker Band in April 1968, now including a young prodigy from Sheffield on keyboards, Tommy Eyre:

This was the lineup that recorded Joe Cocker's first album, the worldwide famous With a little help from my friends, although many other musicians were used in it. The complete lineup only appears in 1 song, a very beautiful rendition of ´Don't let me be misunderstood´. Some other great musicians in the album: Jimmy Page, Albert Lee, David Cohen (guitar), Carol Kaye (bass), Artie Butler, the great Matthew Fisher, Steve Winwood (keyboards), Paul Humpries, the much-missed B J Wilson, Clem Cattini, Mike Kellie (drums), Merry Clayton, Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Madeline Bell, Sunny Weetman, Rosetta Hightower (backing vocals). Tommy plays in ´Just like a woman´, ´Don't let me be misunderstood´ (playing a fantastic organ solo) and the eternal ´With a little help from my friends´. A classical album.

Finally, in 1999, the remastered version appeared (it was about time!). It includes two bonus tracks: ´The new age of Lily´ (B-side of ´Marjorine´ single) and ´Something's coming on´ (B-side of ´With a little help from my friends´ single).

But by the time this album was released, Kenny Slade and Tommy had left the band (in January 69).

Many years later a live album, taken from BBC recordings, was released. It's called On air. It contains superb (and wild!) performances. It's a pity the sound quality is not perfect, but believe me, the performances are great. Listening to the work they perform in ´With a little help from my friends´ (especially Tommy Eyre and the fantastic Henry McCullough), I can't help wondering why Joe Cocker needed to use Jimmy Page for the studio track! Henry McCullough rocks!! (listen to him, for example, in ´Can't be so bad´, where Tommy's organ is also wild).

January 1969 saw a new lineup of Joe Cocker & The Grease Band. It also shows Chris Stainton changing from bass to keyboards. The new members were Alan Spenner and Bruce Rowland, who came from another fantastic band, Wynder K. Frogg (see my pages on Mick Weaver or Chris Mercer for more info on the band):

The tour finished in May 1970, but a couple of concerts were recorded and filmed in March. A double live album was released, the great Mad Dogs & Englishmen. I also have the movie from the same name, that I'd categorize as a superb musical chaos. Joe abandoned the idea after that, felt exhausted and retired for a while. On his side, Leon Russell used most of the musicians for his own band Leon Russell & The Shelter People.

Many years later, the double live album has been reissued several times, but there´s a deluxe edition as a 6CD. Absolutely stunning.

When Joe Cocker joins Chris Stainton in February 1972, they change their name to Chris Stainton Band With Joe Cocker:

After a period of rehearsals, inside problems soon arose and the band split in August 1974, before the tour started.

This was the new live band that Joe Cocker assembled in August 1974 as he needed to start his announced tour. They were dubbed as Joe Cocker & The Cock´n´Bull Band, and it featured the great Albert Lee:

Kokomo comprised several ex-members of Cocker´s Grease Band, such as Hubbard and Spenner.

In January 1977, Kokomo split and Cocker stopped touring for a long period.

Does anybody know if Paddy McHugh was also in this lineup, please?
In September 1978, Joe Cocker assembles a new backing band under the name Joe Cocker & The American Standard Band with the core of an existing band:

This was the band that toured to promote Cocker´s Luxury you can afford, released that same month.

I think they played together until 1979, approximate.

And, from here on, I just include the lineups that I know due to being credited in live concerts, adverts for gigs, tour books, live videos, etc., as I have no better way to collect this info. So any additional information to complete this page would be VERY welcomed. I've been collecting details on Cocker tours for years, but my knowledge is still limited.

In October 1980, this is the live band backing Joe Cocker for his appearance at German show Rockpalast:

The shows also featured Fernando Saunders (bass) and Simon Phillips (drums) as part of Jeff Beck Band, as well as assorted guest appearances by other mates such as Ronnie Lane, Ron Wood (guitar), Ian ´Stu´ Stewart (keyboards), Tony Hymas (keyboards) or Jan Hammer (keyboards).

There´s a live DVD from the Nigh calls tour, but I can´t find the list of players (maybe from 1991 or even 1992. With Cocker, Grande, Stainton, but can´t check the others, as I don´t have it - help with info, please!).

This is another lineup for Joe Cocker in 1992, when they played in Dortmund:

Joe Cocker finally lost his battle against lung cancer on December 22nd, 2014. He died in Crawford, Colorado. What a great loss to music!

This page has been written just less than one day after Joe passed away. I've done my best to be as complete as I could, but haven't had time to check all my text, and I still need to add album scans, photos, etc. I'll be adding them along the days.
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp3 BANDS (WITH 58 SELECTED RECORDINGS):

Comments: There was a premium edition with a live DVD recorded in September 2012. The live tracks feature this band: Gene Black (guitar), Oneida James (bass), Nick Milo (keyboards), Euge Groove (keyboards), Jack Bruno (drums), Nicole Tillman (backing vocals), Kara Britz (backing vocals). None of them appear in the original studio album.

Comments: Good news here! Almost 25 years later, a Hinkley's heroes album has been finally officialy released! It's called Volume one (I hope this means it will be followed by more volumes). The list of musicians appearing here is awesome. Attention to Joe Cocker appearing under the nickname Cow Chocker.

RELATED VIDEO LINKS: 11
Disclaimer: I don´t own or upload any of the videos linked here. I just include links to live videos that are already available, in order to show the work of this musician. Anyway, if someone feels that some link shouldn't be included, please write me at the email address shown below. And if you know of more videos featuring Joe Cocker, please, also write me with the link.